England miss out on seeding as expected, but could face harder group than
expected due to unexpected pot system which brings top European sides into
play

England are facing the increased possibility of a World Cup ‘group of death’ after Fifa confirmed on Tuesday that Roy Hodgson’s unseeded team could join the pot of African and South American countries in Friday’s draw.

It had been expected that England would remain in pot four and that France, as the lowest ranked European team, would be grouped with the African and South American teams in pot two.

Fifa, though, revealed that there would be a separate random selection ahead of the main World Cup draw to determine which of the nine unseeded European teams was moved to pot two.

That team could not then be drawn against Switzerland or Belgium – the weakest of the eight seeds – and would have to face one of the top four South American teams as well as another European country, such as Italy or Holland.

The worst-case scenario for England is that they are moved to pot two and drawn against Brazil or Argentina as well as Italy and the United States.

Should England remain in pot four with the other unseeded European teams, they could face a relatively weak group of Switzerland, Algeria and Honduras.

Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, went into little detail when asked yesterday why France had not been automatically placed in pot two. “The decision was taken by Fifa’s executive committee, all the confederation presidents,” he said. “We are at a draw and we should have a draw. It’s easy to say it. Let us draw all the teams, and not pick one out.”

Jérôme Valcke, the Fifa general secretary, confirmed that the European country moved to pot two could not play one of the European seeds in their group and so would then face Brazil, Argentina, Colombia or Uruguay from pot one.

In order to avoid a scenario where three European teams are drawn together in one group, the South American seeds will make up a special sub-pot X from pot one.

As part of Fifa’s attempt to make the groups as geographically diverse as possible, the South American teams from pot one also cannot be drawn with Chile or Ecuador from pot two. “It’s not easy to understand – the first take it took me some time,” admitted Valcke.

England have benefited from relatively kind draws in recent World Cups, although they could only qualify second from a group containing the US, Slovenia and Algeria in 2010. They also struggled to beat both Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago in the 2006 group phase.

Starting yesterday, there will be four full rehearsals in an attempt to ensure nothing goes wrong during Friday’s draw when the balls will be selected by representatives of the eight World Cup-winning nations. As well as England’s Sir Geoff Hurst, they will include Uruguay’s Alcides Ghiggia, Argentina’s Mario Kempes, Germany’s Lothar Matthaus, France’s Zinedine Zidane, Brazil’s Cafu, Italy’s Fabio Cannavaro and Spain’s Fernando Hierro.

Fifa also confirmed on Tuesday that it would not change the scheduled kick-off times in the hotter northern Brazilian cities of Manaus, Salvador, Natal and Fortaleza where temperatures are likely to approach 95F.

Hodgson, the England manager, has admitted that he is particularly concerned by the prospect of playing in the tropical Amazon rainforest conditions of Manaus. “In Mexico in 1986, lots of games were played at noon time,” said Blatter. “I think athletes now are used to playing in conditions that are not all the best. You can’t make everyone happy.”

Valcke added that the decision had been made after consideration of the medical reports. “We were perfectly aware of the conditions when the match schedule was organised.”

Italy coach Cesare Prandelli is still urging Fifa to allow two time-outs of two minutes during each matches for rehydration. Prandelli said that “eight out of 11” players asked him to come off during the Confederations Cup in Brazil last summer.

That competition was played in six of the 12 venues for next year, with Fifa confident that Cuiaba, Manaus, Natal and Porto Alegre will be ready by January.

Curitiba is, according to Valcke, facing “most problems” and Fifa does not expect it to be ready for its first match until the end of February.

At the Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo, where two workers died last week, Fifa is still awaiting the results of an investigation. It is still expected to host the opening match of the World Cup involving Brazil.

“We are not in a crisis where we are looking for any alternative to Sao Paulo,” said Valcke. “Based on the information we have, we are confident that they can deliver on time.”

The prize-money for next summer’s World Cup is also due to be confirmed on Wednesday, with Valcke expecting a “significant increase” on the 2010 tournament in South Africa.